Industry not behind SAFE Act protests

January 18, 2014

On Jan. 15, 2013, on the very first day of the legislative session, the New York State Legislature passed the most sweeping, draconian gun-control laws in the nation. The so-called N.Y. SAFE Act had nothing to do with public safety and everything to do with pushing Gov. Andrew Cuomo's political agenda and aspirations for higher political office.

This has spawned a grassroots phenomenon of protest by yard sign the likes of which we have never seen. Some of these yard signs that have popped up from Long Island to the shores of Lake Erie were obtained through a donation to the Shooters Committee On Political Education. Imagine if every person displaying a yard sign donated from $10 to $20 to do so. No matter what your political bent is, that shows anger and determination.

So the next time a staff writer wants to print the governor's quote about how all the N.Y. SAFE Act protests are part of the well-funded gun industry, think of all the people in your readership who know he is lying - and how the journalist who believes this dribble is out of touch or just plain lying, too.

2013 was a year of protests and rallies asking to be heard. We may have been heard, but we also were ignored.

With 2014 being an election year, the message is clear: Ignore us at your own political peril.